Where lies the truth?

The lead story in today's NY Times begins thusly:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 — Senior leaders of Al Qaeda operating from Pakistan have re-established significant control over their once-battered worldwide terror network and over the past year have set up a band of training camps in the tribal regions near the Afghan border, according to American intelligence and counterterrorism officials.

As I read the article, I sat there asking myself whether I believed it or not. On the one hand, it may well be true, and, if so, it is certainly an indictment of Bush's handling of the war in Afghanistan and the "war on terror" generally. On the other hand, I don't trust anything that comes out of the mouths of government officials, particularly this government. This may just be one more effort by the Bushies to change the subject on us or to scare the public into accepting his "surge" in Iraq (as if that had anything to do with al Qaeda on the Afghan border with Pakistan). It's a shame that we can't trust anyone enough to know whether the wolf is really at the door.